Arrests Follow Pit Bull Dogfight

Animals Found Locked In Combat

July 13, 1989|By A.J. PLUNKETT Staff Writer

NEWPORT NEWS — Police and SPCA officers broke up a pit bull fight in the city's East End Tuesday night, arrested one woman and seized her injured dog and another pit bull, both of which had to be taken to a veterinarian.

An anonymous caller tipped off SPCA officials to the dogfight just before 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, said Gene Falls, director of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

"We get these calls a lot, but we never can catch them," Falls said. Usually, the dogfights break up before officers can get to the scene.

This time the officers arrived in time. They were able to get both dogs because the pair were still locked in intense combat, even though about half a dozen spectators and dog owners scattered, said Falls.

"They were locked together. One of them wouldn't turn the other one loose," Falls said of the pit bulls.

The dogfight occurred in an empty field at 20th and Roanoke Avenue.

Dana Johnson of the 700 block of Hampton Avenue was arrested at the scene. She has pleaded innocent to a charge of cruelty to animals, a misdemeanor, Falls said. She was released from the city jail on bail, Falls said. "She's already called about her dog."

Johnson's pit bull was the most severely injured, Falls said. The second dog, a male, re ceived only minor injuries in the dogfight.

Johnson's dog remained in SPCA custody Tuesday afternoon. It was treated by a veterinarian for head and internal injuries, Falls said, adding that the dog was "passing a lot of blood now."

"I'm not going to give her back unless I have to, unless a judge tells me too," Falls said.

Under the law, the dog must be returned to its owner unless a judge orders it to be taken away, Falls said.

Johnson's telephone number is unpublished and she could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

A person convicted of cruelty to animals faces a maximum fine of $1,000 and six months in jail, although most judges typically levy only a $100 fine, Falls said.

He said some judges tend to impose higher fines than others, but declined to identify them.

Although pit bull fights are not uncommon on the Peninsula, they rarely involve gambling, Falls said. Involving gambling would make it a felony offense and of more interest to law and judicial authorities.

The fights found in the area are purely for sport, Falls said.

"Mostly they do it because they just like to watch the dogs chew each other up," Falls said.

Most reports about organized dog fights involve open campuses of city schools after school hours, Falls said.

Stephen Chantry, the former principal of one of those schools, Dunbar-Erwin Middle School on 16th Street, said he had never heard of any dogfights on his campus.